1835.1 LEAFLESS BUSHES. 359 



even that the bashes smelt unpleasantly. Although I diligently 

 tried to collect as many plants as possible, I succeeded in getting 

 very few; and such wretched-looking little weeds would have 

 better become an arctic than an equatorial Flora. The brushwood 

 appears, from a short distance, as leafless as our trees during 

 winter; and it was some time before I discovered that not only 

 almost every plant was now in full leaf, bnt that the greater 

 number were in flower. The commonest bush is one of the Eu- 

 phorbiaceao : an acacia and a great odd-looking cactus are the only 

 trees which afford any shade. After the season of heavy rains, the 

 islands are said to appear for a short time partially green. The 

 volcanic island of Fernando Noronha, placed in many respects 

 under nearly similar conditions, is the only other country where 

 I have seen a vegetation at all like this of the Galapagos Islands. 



The Beagle sailed round Chatham Island, and anchored in 

 several bays. One night I slept on shore on a part of the island, 

 where black truncated cones were extraordinarily numerous : from 

 one small eminence I counted sixty of them, all surmounted by 

 craters more or less perfect. The greater number consisted merely 

 of a ring of red scoriae or slags, cemented together: and their height 

 above the plain of lava was not more than from, fifty to a hundred 

 feet ; none had been very lately active. The entire surface of this 

 part of the island seems to have been permeated, like a sieve, by 

 the subterranean vapours : here and there the lava, whilst soft, has 

 been blown into great bubbles; and in other parts, the tops of 

 caverns similarly formed have fallen in, leaving circular pits with 

 steep sides. From the regular form of the many craters, they 

 gave to the country an artificial appearance, which vividly re- 

 minded me of those parts of Staffordshire, where the great iron- 

 foundries are most numerous. The day was glowing hot, and the 

 scrambling over the rough surface and through the intricate 

 thickets, was very fatiguing ; but I was well repaid by the strange 

 Cyclopean scene. As I was walking along I met two large 

 tortoises, eacli of which must have weighed at least two hundred 

 pounds: one was eating a piece of cactus, and as I approached, 

 it stared at me and slowly walked away ; the other gave a deep 

 hiss, and drew in its head. These huge reptiles, surrounded by 

 the black lava, the leafless shrubs, and large cacti, seemed to my 

 fancy like some antediluvian animals. The few dull-coloured 

 i-irds cared no more for me than they did for the great tortoises. 



